Slashdot Mirror
Facebook In Court
ScaredOfTheMan writes "'The lawsuit, filed by brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra, accuses Zuckerberg, Facebook's 23-year-old C.E.O, of stealing the source code, design, and business plan for Facebook in 2003 when he briefly worked in the Harvard dorms as a programmer for their own fledgling social-networking site, now known as ConnectU.
The plaintiffs have demanded that Facebook be shut down and that full control of the site — and its profits — be turned over to them.'
I just wonder why they waited so long to sue? If he really stole their idea in 2003, why wait four years?"
...before asking a stupid question.
From TFA:
"For the last three years, lawyers for the two sides have waged an increasingly contentious - though largely unnoticed - court battle. On March 28, a resolution seemed at hand when a Massachusetts judge threw out the original lawsuit on a technicality. But because the court did not rule on the legal merits of the case, ConnectU promptly filed a new lawsuit, with a newly honed legal presentation and additional charges. Facebook then filed a terse countersuit in California federal court, accusing ConnectU of tort violations and unfair business practices."
So you can let others take the financial risk and daily hardship of building a business, so you can come along later and 'clean up'.
Ideas are cheap, hard work isnt.
Personally, if you dont speak up once you learn of an 'infringement' you lose your rights. ( And there is no way to claim you hadnt heard of facebook at somepoint in the last 4 years )
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Stellar effort everyone for not bothering to notice that they first filed suit way back in 2003 WHEN IT FIRST HAPPENED. Bang up job.
I guess there's no need to let an annoying little fact get in the way of your stupid "everyone except me is Greedy and Souless and I'm going to feel superior if I proclaim such on an internet message board, even though it reveals what a tremendous moron I am" tirade.
Just goes to show you how a sensationalist article can have such a ridiculous effect on public opinion, even on people who should be smart enough to know better, but evidently are not. You fail at life.
It's not news, it's Slshdot.
Slashdot is not a pure news site per se, it's a site supported by and contributed to by its members. It doesn't have to follow the same rules as "real" news sites, and this is a good thing. When I read the original post it made me say, "oh yeah, why did they wait so long?". If that hadn't been in the post I never would have gone into these comments.